i absolutely love your writing!! thanks for ur wonderful contributions to the sclass tag <3 very open-ended prompt: hyj & cooking?
♪( ´▽｀) thank you so much!! I’m so happy that you’re enjoying 💛
Yoojin doesn’t particularly enjoy cooking. It’s more accurate to say that he enjoys the results of cooking—he likes the feeling of setting a completed dish on the table, likes looking over and seeing that Yoohyun is eating well. But the actual process of preparing the ingredients, making sure that the seasoning is correct, washing everything clean afterwards… It’s tedious.
After dungeons start appearing and Yoohyun leaves to become a hunter, cooking starts to become more and more of a chore. Yoojin’s wallet can’t quite handle getting delivery for every meal, but there are some days where he can’t stand the thought of standing in the kitchen for even half an hour to make dinner and he has to reach for his phone. After the regression, well, what else is he going to do with Yoohyun’s fortune if not waste it on unnecessary take-out?
He’s prepared to do the same when he offers for Myeongwoo to live with him. As much as Yoojin has put in the effort of weaving the lie of them being long-lost friends, they’re still essentially strangers. He doubts they’re close enough to sit down and have meals together.
As it turns out, though, Myeongwoo is more than happy to cook for the both of them, and he’s good at it. Far better than Yoojin ever was.
Myeongwoo must like to cook, Yoojin thinks. How else could he make food that tastes so good? He sneaks another guilty bite of oi muchim from the container in the fridge.
He doesn’t even like cucumbers that much.
Myeongwoo keeps leaving food for Yoojin to find, and Yoojin gradually gets used to having food at home to come back to, to having that guarantee even if he didn’t quite ask for it. It’s a new experience, being able to come home to a home-cooked meal, made by someone who put in the effort and time into making something for him to eat. At the very least, it saves Yoojin from having to think of something to eat for dinner.
As much as he enjoys the ease of eating Myeongwoo’s carefully prepared dishes, though, it leaves him feeling guilty every time that he does. He’s lied to the man about being his friend, dragged him into being a part of Haeyeon, and now keeps eating his food? That’s a bit unfair, even for Yoojin. But he never actually manages to catch Myeongwoo in the act of cooking and Myeongwoo absolutely refuses to accept any of Yoojin’s offers to pay for groceries, even when Yoojin says that it’s Yoohyun’s money.
It becomes a concern that Yoojin uneasily lets fade to the back of his mind, there but not pressing, until one day he comes back earlier than usual to the sound of chopping.
“Let me help you!” Yoojin blurts out as soon as he sees Myeongwoo in the kitchen. He’s still holding Peace in his arms and he’s pretty sure he’s still sweaty from running around all day training him, but Myeongwoo is there, in the kitchen, and Yoojin can help him.
“Are you sure?” Myeongwoo asks tentatively, looking down at the half-chopped carrot on his cutting board. “I just got started, and it’s just fried rice.”
Yoojin claps his hands together decisively, fighting the temptation to fistpump. “Even better. Here, let me put Peace down first and wash my hands, and then I’ll join you.”
He rushes through his daily coming-home routine in record time and five minutes later, he’s plucking the onion from Myeongwoo’s grasp. “You’re planning on dicing this, right?”
“Yeah.” Myeongwoo’s eyes trail the onion like a dog following a treat. “Are you sure you’re okay with helping? I can do it on my own.”
Yoojin frowns. Maybe Myeongwoo is the type of person who likes to work alone? “If you’d rather do it on your own, I won’t disrupt you, but I’ve been looking for an opportunity to help for a while. I just haven’t been able to yet.”
“Oh.” To Yoojin’s confusion, Myeongwoo looks to the side and… blushes? “I don’t mind the help then. If it’s okay with you.”
He begins dicing the onion while Myeongwoo finishes up with the carrot. Yoohyun is the only other person that Yoojin has ever worked with in a kitchen before, and even then, it was more supervision and direction on Yoojin’s part than collaboration. It’s different with Myeongwoo, though. When he finishes with the onion, Myeongwoo is already handing him a zucchini. While Myeongwoo is heating the oil, Yoojin grabs gochujang from the fridge. It feels like a choreographed dance, except they’re discovering the steps as they go.
After Myeongwoo sweeps the onion into the pan, he gives Yoojin an uncertain smile. “Is something funny?”
Huh. “No, it’s nothing,” Yoojin says, attention abruptly drawn to the unconscious smile on his own face. “I’m just happy.”
This is the most fun he’s ever had while cooking.
“Oh! Well, I’m glad, then.” Myeongwoo prods the onions, which give a satisfying sizzle. “Do you want to fry up two eggs?”
Somehow, Myeongwoo conducts some type of sorcery to have the fried rice done at the same time that Yoojin finishes with the eggs, and manages to plate everything just on time for Yoojin to slide an egg on top of each bowl. It’s just kimchi fried rice with an egg on top, but Yoojin is… He’s happy. Excited.
“Let’s eat,” he tells Myeongwoo. He gets another confused smile in return for the helpless grin still on his face, but Yoojin can’t get himself to stop even if he wanted to. He doesn’t want to.
There’s warmth in his heart and happiness in his home, and that’s all he’s ever asked for.
